During operation, the system components arranged on the gantry of a CT system produce between 12 kW and 17 kW of heat. In an X-ray tube of the CT system, by way of example, the majority of the energy used is converted into heat during generation of X-ray radiation. This heat must be removed from the gantry in order to protect the system components, in particular a radiator-detector system. For this purpose it is necessary to supply the system components on the rotating support with sufficient cooling air at all times.
It is known to cool individual components with additional fans attached to the rotating support. These fans are very susceptible to the accelerations during rotation of the support, however. These additional fans are therefore often omitted for reliability reasons, in order to avoid maintenance. However, in this case the uniform air supply of the components, viewed over the circumference of the gantry, cannot always be ensured. Temperature problems can therefore occur when the support is stationary since the waste heat cannot be adequately removed.
It is also known to locally correct the pressure by way of baffles in the incoming-air ducts and an adjustment of the air outlets out of the incoming-air duct to the components in order to generate an optimally uniform pressure in the incoming-air duct and thus ensure optimally uniform cooling along the circumference of the gantry.
In the case of non-uniform cooling along the circumference, in particular during operation when the gantry is stationary, it is also necessary to operate the gantry cooling at a higher power. A higher noise level is also generated therewith, however.